Upshur County administrator Tabatha Perry earns statewide Shining Star award

BUCKHANNON – The Upshur County administrator was recognized on a statewide level during the County Commissioners Association spring meeting.

Tabatha Perry was recognized for her work at the Upshur County Commission, receiving the Shining Star award June 7.

“The award was created to recognize the achievements of a county administrator or staff, since some counties do not have a county administrator, that noticeably went beyond the call of duty to actively participate and advance the goals of the County Commissioners Association,” Perry said. “The core focus of the County Commissioners Association is collaboration, providing resources for counties and advocating for the interests of the counties in West Virginia, so they created the Shining Star award for the county administrative staff. They also created a Rising Star award for a county commissioner.”

The County Commissioners Association opens nominations, and administrators from each county are free to nominate someone from their county or another for the award. Once the nominations are received, the board of directors sends those names to county commissioners and administrators to vote for the winner.

“I was very surprised, and I was honored to be recognized amongst my administrative peers. We formed a strong bond over the years, not only at conferences, but we frequently reach out to each other via phone or email when we need to talk about something that’s going on in our county, and we want to see how they’ve handled it in their county,” Perry said. “That could be in regard to ordinances or just a form or levies, anything like that, to gain different perspectives, so it was an honor to be recognized by them.”

Perry’s nomination for the award noted her work on several federal grant projects, including transforming the tar pit into a safe recreational space at the Upshur County Youth Camp and the tennis court rehabilitation project at the Upshur County Recreational Park.

“I supervise seven departments, which fall under the county commission. I also prepare correspondence, and I gather all the research and material to present to the commission so they can make an educated decision with regards to budgetary items, ordinance changes, citizen complaints, grant projects, improvement projects at the courthouse,” Perry said. “It really does vary day by day, but I act as that liaison between the public and the commission, other elected officials and the county commission, along with the department supervisors.”

Perry started working with the Upshur County Commission in 2015 as the assistant county administrator and then moved into her role as county administrator four years ago.

“I enjoy everyone I work with, I enjoy the challenges, and you don’t really get stagnant because it is something different every day, so it’s a mental challenge, and it keeps me active,” Perry said. “I like the research aspect. I’m not much of a public speaker, so working in the background is my forte.”

The commission currently has an opening for the assistant county administrator role, but Perry said her vision for the position has changed.

“There has been a change of the job title from assistant county administrator to administrative and project coordinator. I found that beginning a job such as this, it’s a lot to grasp, so I want the individual to be able to get settled in and take it at their own pace,” she said.

While her workload will increase at first, Perry said the changes will pay off longterm. 

“I’m initially going to take on one more of the responsibilities, and I’m hoping this individual can assist with general administrative office management, grant administration and assistance with some of the projects, like the elevator modernization project and future courthouse facility improvement grants,” Perry said. “Sometimes we’re fortunate and we have an engineer, other times we don’t, so there’s pre-construction meetings and grant administration responsibilities that I’m hopeful this individual will be able to jump in and provide that support we need to keep things running smoothly.”